Harmonica



Aug 12, 1941- w. R; STEELE 2,252,236

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HARMONICA Filed Nov. 21,l 1938- 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 iNvENToR BYM/a/Zr f?.Siae/@ ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 12, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 13Claims.

My invention relates to musical instruments of the harmonica type andmore particularly to the kind using a key transposing type ofmouthpiece.

One of the primary objects of my invention is the combination of a keytransposing type of mouthpiece with a reed plate assembly of specialconstruction and tuning in order to provide an instrument upon which thecomplete harmonica scale or a pre-selected combination of notes aschosen by the manufacturer may be played without moving the mouthpiece,together with means located within the mouthpiece for rapidly changingthe pitch as in playing Sharps and iiats, such mouthpiece beingadjustably mounted over the reed plate assembly, whereby a different andcomplete arrangement of notes may be played at each setting of themouthpiece.

Another object is to provide in an instrument of this type, a mouthpiecewhich, as arranged by the manufacturer, affords within a wide range, theselection of particular combinations of notes that may be played at anysetting of the mouthpiece, such mouthpiece being capable of maintaininga similar combination of tonal relationship and breathing sequence atany pitch of key to which the mouthpiece may be adjusted over the reedassembly.

Another object is to provide an adjustable mouthpiece of the above type,with a slidable air limiting valve interposed within the base of saidmouthpiece and means facilitating the rapid manipulation of said valveas required in playing various musical arrangements, including the mostdifficult, the said air valve being capable of changing the key toobtain sharps and ats, or of otherwise changing the key, as selected bythe manufacturer.

Another object is to provide the above type of mouthpiece with fingergrips to facilitate the adjusting of the same in selected positions, alocking device to hold said mouthpiece in position and to remove alllooseness between said mouthpiece and the reed assembly, and ngeroperated means for instantly releasing the said locking device to permitfree longitudinal movement of said mouthpiece.

Another object is to provide a harmonica mouthpiece with wind savingvalves to permit the human breath to flow in one direction and toprevent it from iiowing in the opposite direction.

Another object is to provide a mouthpiece of this type with stops andindicating means to aid the player in finding correct position ofmouthpiece when modulating from one key to another while playing.

Generally speaking these improvements have to do with the obtaining of amore rapid technique by the player in playing sharps While rendering apiece of music, such improvements being facilitated through a simplifiedand more practical form of mouthpiece. Great advantages are also broughtabout through variations of arrangement of the reeds or notes. Ofespecial advantage also is an indicator which enables the player tomodulate from one key to another while playing the instrument, an eiectwhich is accomplished with a much greater degree of certainty thanheretofore. In my improved construction, I flnd of considerable utilitymy arrangement in the stick of the cells and reeds whereby I bring aboutthe staggering of the blow and draw notes. Other objects will appearfrom the drawing and as hereinafter set forth and claimed.

Attention is hereby directed to the drawings, illustrating a preferredform of my invention, in which similar numerals of designation refer tosimilar parts throughout the several views, and in which- Figure l is aplan view of one form of my improved harmonica, showing the same partlybroken away to disclose the location of the reeds on the top reed plate;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the same;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal section on line 3-3 of the mouthpiece shownin Figure 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 4 is a front elevation of one of the stationary valve platesnormally mounted within a recess at the rear of the mouthpiece;

Figure 5 is a front elevation of one of the movable valve plates inslidable contact with the plate shown in Figure 4 and within the samerecess;

Figure 6 is a modification of the plate shown in Figure 4;

Figure '7 is a modication of the plate shown in Figure 5;

Figure 8 is a front elevation of a portion of the apertured platepermitting admission of air to the reed section;

Figure 9 is a front elevation of the edge of a portion of the reedsection, in front of which the apertured plate shown in Figure 8 isnormally mounted;

Figure 10 is a section on line lll-l0 of the instrument shown in Figure2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure l1 is a sectional view of one end of the mouthpiece, showing amodified form of lever for operating one of the movable valve plates;

Figure 12 is an enlarged front view of a portion of the mouthpieceshowing two air openings, leading to a special form of air cellhereinaiter described;

Figure 13 is a view of a special form of one of the adjustable stopsemployed to locate the mouthpiece in the desired position and to limitits movement within desired bounds; and

Figure i4 is a section on line Iii-I4 of the portion of the mouthpieceshown in Figure 12, looking in the direction of the arrows.

My improved instrument consists of two principal elements: first, aharmonica reed plate assembly of special construction and tuning; andsecond, a key-transposing mouthpiece mounted over the iront edge oi" thereed-plate assembly to admit air to the reeds in a pre-selected sequencesuch that a complete harmonica scale or other selected combination ofnotes may be played without moving the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece is somounted that it may be moved longitudinally over the reed plate assemblyand may be locked in aplurality of different settings. In each settingthe relationship between tones and the breathing sequence will be thesame, but the pitch will correspond to the various keys.

Referring to the drawings, the reed plate assembly I5 consists of anotched stick I6 with reed-plates Il and I8 above and below the stickand notches I9 and 2G therein as shown in Figures 9 and 10. Two rows ofspaced notches or grooves i3 and Eil pierce the front edge of stick I Sand open out at the upper and the lower sides respectively of stick toorm air cells when enclosed by the said reed plates. A middle tongue orseparator 2i divides the air cells into two isolated parallel rows. Areed 22 is mounted in the usual manner over each upper cell I9 andlikewise a reed 23 is mounted over each lowei cell 2). All of the reeds22 are attached to the upper side of plate I's' and the whole upper rowof reeds are played by drawing the breath. The reeds 23 are on the upperside of plate i8, or within the lower cells 2d, and the whole lower rowoi reeds are played by blowing the breath.

In order that unnecessary breath will not be d drawn past the reeds 23when the player is drawing the breath to actuate the reeds 22, a valve2li, in the form of a narrow leather strip, is mounted on the lowerplate I3 below each reed 23. When the human breath is blown to producesound from the reeds 23, the valve 2li will swing clear to allow thereeds to vibrate but when the breath is drawn to actuate the reeds inupper row, the valve 2li will be closed to prevent escape of breath pastreeds 23. The escape of breath past reeds 22 is controlled in themouthpiece and will be hereinafter particularly described. The frontedge of reed plate I7 is turned 'abruptly upward as shown (see Figure toform a narrow guide rib '19. Similarly, the front edge of lower plate i3is turned downward to provide another guide rib 8 I.

A ilat apertured metal valve plate 25 is mounted over the iront edge ofsaid stick and has apertures 26 in the upper edge thereof to admit airto each of the upper cells I9 and apertures 21 in lower edge to admitair to each of the lower cells 2S.` The upper and lower edges of thisplate 25 are turned backwardly and inwardly as at 28 to form smallchannels so that when the plate is in place the guide ribs 19 and 8lwill ride in such channels. Thus, the reed plates I'I and I8 will beheld rigidly against the walls of the stick I3 and at the same time theplate 25 will also be held rmly aixed to the front edge of such stick. Acover 2S is attached to the upper side of the assembly to enclose andprotect the reeds on the upper reed plate I'I and a similar cover issecured to the lower side below the lower reed plate I8, the coversbeing held in place by screws 30 at each end of the assembly, The rearedges of these covers are perforated as at 3l to allow the issuance ormusical sounds.

The above description covers the structure of the reed plate assembly,and the special tuning or" the reeds will now be described. All of thereeds on the upper plate Il are played by drawing the breath, and thetonal separation between any two adjacent notes is a half tone, thewhole row of reeds forming a chromatic scale progressing in uniformsteps of one-half tone. The reeds on the lower reed plate I8 likewiseprogress in half-tone steps to form the chromatic scale and, as abovestated, are played by blowing the breath. The extreme bass note, or thenote at the extreme lett end of assembly below the lower cell and playedby blowing breath, is two halftones lower in pitch than the note whichis located above the upper left hand cell. Thus, if C were played byblowing in said lower cell, D, which is a full tone or two half-toneshigher in pitch, would be played by drawing breath in the upper celldirectly above said lower cell. All

l of the way up the scale the variance of tonal itch is the saine, sothat each reed on the upper plate is two half-tones higher in pitch thanthe reed which is directly below it on lower plate. This staggering oftones is done in order that the mouthpiece may have a uniform spacing ofholes and yet reach the desired combination of tones.

The musical tones comprising the major scale progress in steps of onewhole tone or two halftones between each two consecutive notes, exceptthat the tonal separation between the 3rd and 41th and the 7th vand 8thnotes or intervals of scale is onlyone half-tone. This symmetricalarrangement of tones is not changed when the pitch of key is changed,but Sharps and ats are required in the written music to maintain theproper tonal separation in the various keys. The key-transposingmouthpiece takes advantage of this fact, when used in combination withthe above-described reed plate assembly. Preferably,

d the front portion of this mouthpiece 32 is constructed in the form ofan elongated bar and tapers toward its front edge. A series of holes orair openings 33 pierce the front edge of such mouthpiece and areenlarged back of the front surface to form air cells which are separatedfrom each other by partitions 34, as shown in Figure 3. The back portionof the said mouthpiece is recessed and shaped so as accurately toreceive a stationary valve 35 (see Figure 4), this being a long, thinmetal plate with air ducts piercing its upper and lower edges as shown,and also so as to receive a slidable air valve 36 such as shown inlFigure 5, this valve being similar to valve 35, but having fewer airducts and being shorter at its outer edges than valve 35 by an amountequal to the span of one of the air ducts S'I and being suiiicientlynarrower than valve 35 to allow it to slide freely in said recess. Suchslidable interposing valve 33, as just described, should be flush withthe rear edge of the mouthpiece so that when the selector plate 3S isattached to said rear edge by means of screws 49, the slider will slidefreely but not allow air to escape between it and the adjoining plates.The selector plate 39 (see Figures 3 and 10) is a metal plate having airducts piercing its upper and lower edges, said ducts corresponding tothose in stationary plate 35. The extreme upper and lower edges of plate39 are curved backward and inwardly as at 4l to provide guide channelswhich will enclose and engage with the curved edges 28 of aperturedvalve plate 25 when the mouthpiece is mounted over the reed plateassembly. The slidable valve 36 is interposed between two plates 35 and39, which latter have duplicate air ducts therethrough, but since thevalve 3S has fewer openings than have such plates, it fully controls thepassage of air through the ducts in said plates 35 and 3Q.

In playing the harmonica, two consecutive .k

notes of the scale are played through each hole, one of them beingplayed by blowing and the other being played by drawing the breath.rIhis interposing control valve 36 has an air duct 3l piercing its upperedge and a similar duct 38 piercing its lower edge to correspond withcells 42 in the mouthpiece. Thus, a blow note and a draw note is playedthrough each air opening 33 in iront edge of mouthpiece due to the factthat air duct 31 is directly over the row of reeds that are played b-ydrawing the breath and air duct 38 is directly over the row of reedsthat is played by blowing the breath, The proper arrangement,longitudinally, of these rows of ducts, such as that shown in Figure 5,will admit air to the proper sequence of blow and draw notes to play thecomplete harmonica scale in the normal manner without moving themouthpiece. This holds true regardless of the longitudinal position inwhich the mouthpiece is set over the reed plate assembly, and the pitchof key will correspond to the note which is played by blowing in theopening at the extreme left end of mouthpiece.

It will be noted that almost any other arrangement of tones could beobtained by proper longitudinal spacing of these air ducts. One or thesevariations will be described later. A study of stationary valve 35 willshow that it has a pair of air ducts 3io to correspond with each duct 3lin plate 3S and similarly it has a pair of ducts 38a to correspond witheach duct 38 in plate 35. rlhe normal position of slidable valve 36 isto the left as shown in Figure 3, so that each duct in 36 will alignwith the left-hand duct of the aforementioned pairs. When the slidablevalve is moved to the right, the ducts Gland 33 will align with theright-hand duct of each pair 31a and 38a.

Since all of the ducts thus opened will admit to reeds which will beone-half-'tone higher in pitch, the sharp of any note that wasoriginally played will be obtained. This slidable valve may be operatedby a iinger lever to obtain very rapid technique in playing sharps andiiats as required in playing modern music. Such a lever 43 is indicatedin Figures 1 and 2, it being a narrow strip of metal which encircles thereed plate assembly and pivots on pins 45 in ears M, which are attachedone to each side of the mouthpiece and preferably at the right-hand endof same. A forward extending pin 4l in the end of slidable valve 33engages in a properly aligned hole in the encircling lever so that whenthe rearward extending tab 4G is pressed to the left the slidable valvewill be moved to the right.

In the modification shown in Figure 11 there is illustrated a portion ofthe mouthpiece at the right end with the top cut away to disclose aspring i8 in position to hold the slidable valve to the left in normalposition. Spring 43 is held in place by a pin 49 extending from the topof the mouthpiece. A forward extending pin 53 in one edge of valve 35extends through a slot 52 in stationary valve 35 into a vestibule 53 inend of the mouthpiece and one leg of spring 48 bears against this pinwhile the other leg of the spring bears against the right-end wall ofthe mouthpiece as shown. The lever 5I extends through a slot 8) in theside of the mouthpiece. rhis lever is mounted directly back of spring i8and pivots on the same pin 49. The inward end of the lever is slotted toengage end of pin 53 and when outer end of lever is pressed to the left,the slidable valve 36 will be moved longitudinally in a similar manneras by the lever in Figure 1. Whether or not the type of lever is used,the spring i3 will be employed to cause the valve to be returned tonormal position and will be housed in substantially the same manner asherein described. While the lever 43 shown in Figure l is the preferredtype or lever, it is desired that such lever not be limited to anyspecic construction as any form oi' lever usable for this purpose couldbe employed.

A varied form of slidable air valve 55 is shown in Figure 7 and thestationary valve which would be used with this slider is shown by 5d inFigure f3. In this case the face plate 33 would have ducts identicalwith those in the stationary valve 5d and again the slidable valve willcontrol the passage of air through said stationary valve plates. Thepurpose oi this arrangement of valves is to lower certain tones of themusical scale Without changing the others, to change the scale frommajor to minor key in construction. In this case the stationary valvehas the right combination or" ducts for the major scale with a fewadditional ducts 55 in the upper edge and 51 in the lower edge. Theseducts are closed when slidable valve a in normal position and air willpass through the ducts and 5M in slidable valve to admit air to thenormal notes. However, when the valve is moved to the right, thesenormal ducts are closed and slidable valve ducts 56h and 57h will be inalignment with stationary valve ducts and 5l', respectively, thuslowering these notes one half-tone. rihe remaining notes will remainunchanged since additional ducts are provided to allow air to continueto flow through slidable fr valve before, as will be seen by studyingthe drawings. This is an example of one of the large number of possiblechanges of combination which may be accomplished by a slidable valve ofthis type, by means of proper spacing of air ducts. The mouthpiecedescribed along with this air valve arrangement lends itself to almostany desired result and it is not therefore desired to limit thelongitudinal spacing of air ducts to any speciiic spacings, but ratherto allow the arrangement of them in any desired manner to obtain thepredetermined arrangement of notes.

In order that the mouthpiece may be easily and Quickly adjusted from onekey to another desired hey, finger grips '58 and 50 are attached to theupper and lower sides, respectively, of the mouthpiece and extend farenough down the sides of the instrument so that they may be easilygrasped by the thumb and foreiinger. The lower grip 59 is in the form ofa resilient spring and also acts as a locking release. The saidresilient grip is attached to the metal tab 59 as shown and the nngerEl, which is a part of grip 5U, swings through opening 62 in tab 59 sothat curved lip GB will bear against lower inward tapering edge 28 ofapertured valve plate 25. This lip 68, striking edge 23 of 25, willwedge selector plate 39 of mouthpiece tightly to apertured plate 25 ofreed plate assembly and thus prevent loss of breath between the two andalso prevent longitudinal movement of mouthpiece. A short narrow tongueE9 is punched sharply inward in the center of lip B8 as shown in Figurel0 and drops in one of the spaced notches 'iii in lower curved edge 2 asshown in Figure 8 to aid in setting mouthpiece accurately in desiredposition and to prevent any possibility oi mouthpiece slipping. Apointer El forms a part of grip 58 and plays over a key indicating scaleas stamped on the top cover 29. As an aid to the player in adjustingmouthpiece from one pitch of key to some other pitch oi key whileplaying, a slender rearwardly extending nger 3 is punched inward cf grip58 and a depression 54 in iinger E3 will drop in the various spaceddepressions 5S in cover 2S when mouthpiece is moved longitudinally overreed plate assembly. The tension exerted by ringer 63 is just siLdicientto aid the player to count the number oi half-tones when he moves themouthpiece.

As a further and more positive aid in nding upper and lower pitches ofkey which will be required in playing any musical selection whichmodulates to two or more keys, a small clip li is provided. This clip orstop il' is a narrow metal strip bent as shown in Figure 13. ends i2 arecurved to easily slip over edges of plate and be frictionally retainedby same. Depressione i.: will drop in the apertures in plate and make amore positive lock against longitudinal movement of lock when inposition. One of these stops may be placed on the left-hand portion ofplate E5 at correct position to stop mouthpiece at the desired lowerpitch of key and another one may be placed on the right-hand portion oiplate 25 in position to stop mouthpiece from going above the desiredhigher pitch of key. They nay be very quickly changed to desired limits.The above-described quick acting nger lock, the indicators and thesestops all combine to give the player a superior control of harmonicawhile playing.

In the modern three octave, twelve hole, chromatic harmonica identicaltones are played by blowing in the fourth and fifth holes and the sameis also true of the eighth and ninth holes.

Since there is no repetition of notes in either row of reeds in thisassembly, a special arrangement may be made whereby the same reed may beactuated by blowing in either the fourth or nith hole and the samearrangement would be made in the eighth and ninth holes. Figure l2 is aportion of mouthpiece including the fourth and fifth holes looking at itfrom the iront and Figure le is a cross-sectional View of same on lineiii-ifi looking in the direction of the arrows. A partition lll extendsthrough the fourth and fifth mouthpiece cells, and the cell separator isomitted on the back side of this partition so that it forms one longcell. A port 'i6 pierces this partition in the portion within hole 4 andanother port opens into hole 5. A leather valve 'io is mounted at theback of each port and this valve will allow air to enter the new aircell but will prevent it from re-entering either the fourth or fifthhole. This new elongated air cell covers The the rear air duct whichadmits air to the note in question, and air blown through either thefourth or fth air openings will actuate this reed.

Means oi preventing waste of breath past the reeds which are played byblowing, have already been described in the reed plate assemblyhereinbefore set forth, and the method of preventing the escape ofbreath past the reeds which are played by drawing the breath will now bedescribed. Ihe valve wall Il is constructed and inclined as shown inFigure 10 between each pair of cell separators 34 over the air ductsthat admit air to the reeds that are played by drawing breath, or theupper row oi ducts. An opening pierces this valve wall to allow breathto be drawn through same to actuate the reeds. In order that the breathmay not be blown past these reeds when playing the blow notes, the endof a small leather valve '18 is, in each case, secured to an edge of thewall 'il and extended over the said openings and the pressure of theblown breath will close said valve. The mouthpiece would work withouteither of the latter two valve-controlling means mentioned, but it isdesired to cover these controlling means as a possible means ofconstructing a more practical device.

My invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The presentembodiment, as above set forth, is therefore to be considered in allrespects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of my inventionbeing indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoingdescription, and all changes which come within the meaning and range ofequivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent isl. In a harmonica,the combination of a reed plate assembly having isolated rows of aircells and reeds extending over the mouths of said cells, an aperturedplate secured to said reed plate as- .m sembly and admitting passage ofair to said reeds,

an adjustable key transposing mouthpiece mounted to move longitudinallyupon said assembly, said mouthpiece having a series of air openingstherethrough, a selector plate secured thereto and separating saidopenings from said assembly, and said selector plate having rows of airducts therethrough in spaced relationship admitting the passage of airto pre-selected arrangements of cells and reeds in said rows.

2. In a harmonica, the combination of a reed plate assembly havingisolated rows of air cells and reeds extending over the mouths of saidcells, an apertured plate secured to said reed plate assembly andadmitting passage of air to said reeds, an adjustable key transposingmouthpiece mounted to move longitudinally upon said assembly, saidmouthpiece having a series of air openings therethrough, a selectorplate secured thereto and separating said openings from said assembly,and said selector plate having rows of air ducts therethrough in spacedrelationship admitting the passage of air to pre-selected arrangementsof cells and reeds in said rows, and a valve mounted to move within saidmouthpiece in sliding contact with said selector plate to control thepassage ci air through the air ducts of the same.

3. In a harmonica, the combination of a reed plate assembly havingisolated rows of air cells and reeds extending over the mouths of saidcells, an apertured plate secured to said reed plate assembly andadmitting passage of air to said reeds, an adjustable key transposingmouthpiece mounted to move longitudinally upon said assembly, saidmouthpiece having a series of air openings therethrough, a sele-ctorplate secured thereto and separating said openings from said assembly,and said selector plate having rows of air ducts therethrough in spacedrelationship admitting the passage of air to pre-selected arrangementsof cells and reeds in said rows, and a valve mounted to move within saidmouthpiece in sliding contact with said selector plate to control thepassage of air through the air ducts of the same, and spring actuatedmeans secured to said mouthpiece yieldingly holding said valve in normalposition, and mechanism for manually operating said valve against saidyielding means.

cl. In a harmonica, the combination of a reed plate assembly having rowsof cells and reeds eX- tending over the mouths of said cells, anadjustable mouthpiece mounted to move longitudinally upon said reedplate assembly, said mouthpiece having a series of openings therethroughand an elongated recess located in the rear portion thereof, two airvalves mounted within said recess one of which is stationary in positionand the other of which is longitudinally movable thereiny and a selectorplate secured to said mouthpiece and acting as a cover for said recess,said valves and selector plate having rows of selectively spaced airducts therethrough to permit passage of to said reeds.

5. In a harmonica, the combination of a reed plate assembly, and amouthpiece mounted to move upon said assembly and to be adjusted invarious positions thereon, said mouthpiece having openings therethroughand a recess therein, two air valves mounted within said recess one ofwhich is stationary in position and the other of which slides therein, aselector plate secured to said mouthpiece and covering said recess, saidair valves and selector plate having selectively spaced air ductstherethrough permitting passage of air to said reeds.

6. In a harmonica, the combination of a reed plate assembly, amouthpiece mounted to move upon said assembly and to be adjusted invarious positions thereon, said mouthpiece having openings therethroughand a recess therein, two air valves mounted within said recess one ofwhich is stationary in position and the other of which slides therein, aselector plate secured to said mouthpiece and covering said recess, saidair valves and selector plate having selectively spaced air ductstherethrough permitting passage of air to reeds, and spring actuatedmeans affixed to said mouthpiece yieldingly holding said slidable valvein normal position, and manually operated means for operating saidslidable valve against said yielding means.

7. In a harmonica, the combination of a reed plate assembly, amouthpiece mounted to move upon said assembly and to be adjusted invarious positions thereon, said mouthpiece having openings therethroughand a recess therein, two air valves mounted within said recess one ofwhich is stationary in position and the other of which slides therein, aselector plate secured to said mouthpiece and covering said recess, saidair valves and selector plate having selectively spaced air ductstherethrough permitting passage of air to said reeds, and nger gripsattached to the mouthpiece whereby the mouthpiece may be adjusted to andset in various longitudinal positions upon the reed plate assembly.

8. In a harmonica, the combination of a reed plate assembly, amouthpiece mounted to move upon said assembly and to be adjusted invarious positions thereon, said mouthpiece having openings therethroughand a recess therein, two air valves mounted within said recess one ofwhich is stationary in position and the other of which slides therein, aselector plate secured to said mouthpiece and covering said recess, saidair valves and selector plate having selectively spaced air ductstherethrough permitting passage of air to said reeds, finger gripsattached to the mouthpiece whereby the mouthpiece may be adjusted to andset in various longitudinal positions upon the reed plate assembly, ametallic strip having a series of spaced indentations in one sidethereof attached longitudinally to the reed plate assembly, and aresilient linger coupled to the mouthpiece and playing over saidindentations.

9. In a harmonica provided with air cells and reeds thereover, alongitudinally movable mouthpiece mounted upon said harmonica and havinga series of air openings therethrough to admit air to the reeds in anydesired sequence, a series of longitudinally spaced depressions in thecovering of said harmonica, and a resilient linger coupled to saidmouthpiece and playing over said depressions to enable the performer tore-adju'st the mouthpiece to any desired change of key while rendering aselection of music.

10. In combination with a harmonica having air cells and reedsthereover, a longitudinally movable mouthpiece mounted upon saidharmonica and having a series of air openings therethrough to admit airto the reeds, means for directing the forced human breath to the deslredcombination of reeds, manually operated locking mechanism for tighteningthe association of said mouthpiece with said harmonica and preventinguncontrolled movement of said mouthpiece thereon, grips facilitating thelongitudinal movement of said mouthpiece to desired positions upon saidharmonica, together with a series of longitudinally spaced depressionsin the cover of said harmonica and a resilient ringer coupled to saidmouthpiece and playing over said depressions whereby the player will beenabled to re-adjust the instrument to any desired change of key whileplaying.

ll. In a harmonica, the combination of a reed plate assembly, amouthpiece mounted to move upon said assembly and to be adjusted invarious positions thereon, said mouthpiece having openings therethroughand a recess therein, two air valves mounted within said recess one ofwhich is stationary in position and the other of which slides therein, aselector plate secured to said mouthpiece and covering said recess, saidair valves and selector plate having selectively spaced air ductstherethrough permitting passage of air to said reeds, and detachablestops whereby the longitudinal movement of the mouthpiece may be limitedwithin predetermined bounds.

12. A longitudinally movable adjustable mouthpiece for harmonica reedassemblies having rows of air cells and reeds thereover, said mouthpiecebeing being constructed with a series of air openings through the frontthereof, and having a selector plate assembly mounted upon the rearthereof and covering the back of said openings.

and said assembly being provided with rows of selectively spaced airducts through the stationary portion of said plate assembly and having aslidable air valve interposed in said assembly and controlling thepassage of air through said air ducts.

13. A longitudinally movable adjustable mouthpiece for harmonica reedassemblies having rows of air cells and reeds thereover, said mouthpiecebeing constructed with a series of air openings through the frontthereof, and having a selector plate assembly mounted upon the rearthereof and covering the back of said openings and said assembly beingprovided with rows of selectively spaced air ducts through thestationary portion of said plate assembly and having a slidable airvalve interposed in said assembly and controlling the passage of airthrough said air duets, and spring actuated means afl'xed to saidmouthpiece yieldingly holding said slidable valve in normal position,and manually operated means for operating said slidable valve againstsaid yielding means.

WALTER R. STEELE.

